Vancouver - NLM

Regulations for describing documents are diverse and are issued by different entities. The purpose of bibliographic citation is to provide our reader with information on the sources we have used or other related topics, so that they can locate them if they find them of interest. In other words, the purpose of a bibliographic reference is to provide the information needed to locate the document with the minimum data and consistent presentation and ordering criteria.

Here is a summary of the "Vancouver" regulations, which are recommended in the area of Health Sciences and, therefore, by the FCS. The information below is based on the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts (URM) (updated in 2024). Bear in mind that this citation style is no longer being revised and updates from the AMA (American Medical Association) and the NLM (National Library of Medicine) are used.

We offer this brief contribution in the hopes that it will be of use to you.

If you are interested in expanding on this information or learning about other regulations, you can contact the library where you will find a more extensive and exhaustive dossier.

Extract cited information from the original document (where possible). Do not use secondary sources (catalogs, bibliographies, etc.)
Citations are made in the original language of the document, except for the mention of the edition, the month of publication, format, etc. which will be stated in the language of the paper.
Always use the same criteria for your bibliographies.
Sort the bibliographic references by the order of citation in the text. If drawing up a bibliography of recommended works, subject syllabus, etc., use alphabetical order from the first item in the citation.
The formula for citing author(s) is as follows: surname(s) and name initials.
When there is more than one author, separate each one with a comma (,). Until 2012, the first 6 authors were cited followed by the abbreviation "et al.". Currently the NLM recommends naming all authors.
The number of the edition will be stated from the 2nd edition onwards, and always in numerical digits.
Each citation ends with a period "." except when it ends in a web address.
A bibliography contains the sources we have consulted and which are directly related to the content of our work, i.e. if we have consulted a dictionary, it may not be relevant to cite it. In the same way, we may have used information extracted from social media, however, before citing it we must consider whether it is significant enough for it to appear in our list of references.
Chatbots should not be listed as authors. If AI was used for writing assistance, describe this in the acknowledge section, if AI was used for data collection, analysis or figure generation, authors should describe this use in the methods.

[ca.] = circa, in front of the estimated publication date
comp. = compiler
coord. = coordinator
cop. = copyright, in front of the date of copyright
dir. = director
DL = legal deposit, in front of the date taken from the legal deposit
ed. = editor or literary director
et al. = et alii (and others), indicating authors omitted
[i.e.] = id est, in front of an amended publication date
num. = number of the edition of a publication from a series
p. = page(s)
[S.l.] sine loco, used when the place of publication is not known
[s.n.] = sine nomine, used when the publisher's name is not known
[sic] = placed after an error quoted literally
v. = stated after the number of volumes in a monograph
Vol. = stated before the number of the cited volume

Vancouver complete pdf guide with citation examples (March 2022)

In our writing, we will mention different sources that we must cite in the bibliography. When we cite something in the text, we must add the corresponding number in parentheses referring to the list of references we will present at the end of our work. (The AMA uses a numeric superscript format to cite sources. In the event doubt, consult your thesis director to ascertain their preferences)

Numbering must always be sequential. That is, the first citation will be numbered 1, and so forth.
References will be ordered in the bibliography in this order, not alphabetically.
Numbers are placed after quotation marks, commas, and periods, but before colons and semicolons.
You can also use a numerical digit in square brackets or superscript, but this format must be consistent throughout the work.
Examples of intratext citation (March 2022)